Looking for some big scares, but overwhelmed by choices? We have picks for you.
Remember when you’d go to Old Country Buffet and you’d load up on lasagna, tater tots and brownies but it was nasty and then you were like, maybe I should have had the meatloaf, mashed potatoes and trifle? That’s what it’s like to be a horror movie fan now that streaming is a new normal. The choices are vast, the quality varies and the choosing is daunting. This is where I come in. In this column, I’ll provide a fan’s scary movie recommendations for people who want to discern the terrifying from the terrible. First up: demonic possession, traumatic dreams and killer jeans. Rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vudu. I swear I saw David Cronenberg peek from behind a doorway in this ’80s-inspired sci-fi horror mash-up from the writer-director Anthony Scott Burns. Like Cronenberg, Burns is Canadian, and like one of my favorite Cronenberg films — “Rabid” (1977) — “Come True” uses lurid storytelling and off-kilter production design to douse the screen in menace. Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone), a troubled young woman estranged from her mother, enlists in a sketchy sleep study led by researchers who are tight-lipped about their objectives. As the experiment continues, tall menacing figures that haunt Sarah’s nightmares reach the real world, threatening her waking hours and leading her into the arms of one of her researchers (Landon Liboiron) for comfort. The story ends with more questions than answers about Sarah’s terrors, but that mystery is what makes the film so unnerving. There’s definitely substance here, but the film has style to spare. The pulsing synth score, creepy institutional locations ( nice job, Edmonton) and rooms lit in vibrant jewel tones are what I’d call dreamy. Stream it on Shudder. A demonic presence torments a secluded farm in this macabre film written and directed by Bryan Bertino ( “The Strangers”). Marin Ireland and Michael Abbott Jr. play siblings who return home to say goodbye to their dying father.
